The control of bugs, rodents and other pests within buildings is usually done by spraying or depositing pesticides along baseboards and other exposed areas or by spraying the same into those concealed areas readily accessible through cracks and crevices. Such application of poisonous substances presents a hazardous potential for harmful contact with humans and pets, either directly or through the intermediary of contacted foodstuffs or utensils. Those substances may also leave unsightly stains on carpets and baseboards. Furthermore, the residual effectiveness of pesticides thus applied may be reduced by exposure to the degenerating effects of UV light and moisture.
Commercially available pest control products for crack and crevice application, include aerosols such as those available from Whitmire Research Laboratories, St. Louis, MO, designed for direct injection into wall voids and other concealed places through expansion joints, electrical outlet openings and the like, using short lengths of tubing that affix to the spray nozzle of the can. Crack and crevice injection chemicals can be stronger and, thus, more effective than exposed surface application materials; however, care must be taken to avoid depositing the same onto exposed surfaces or introducing the more potent material into the air. Moreover, there is a danger that the stronger materials may be used by nonprofessionals as contact sprays for exposed surface treatment, contrary to directions and despite nonapproval for such usage.
Ramsey U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,949 proposes an insecticide distribution system in which insecticide is introduced under pressure into piping preinstalled through the studs, joists, rafters and built-ins of buildings, and released through preset pressure responsive nozzles, each positioned to spray a different otherwise inaccessible interior building location. Installation of piping is preferably to be done during building construction. The pipes are run in circular loops, having a return line back to the point of entry. Insecticide is run under pressure into the entry port, with the exit port closed off. Pressure is built up in the pipe, until the pressure has built up to the release pressure of each valve. The valves then open, and insecticide is sprayed into the wall void or other concealed location of the valve. Once the material has been completely distributed throughout the house, the piping lines are cleaned out by forcing air or a combination of air and solvent through the piping.
While Ramsey recognizes the benefit of distributing and releasing pest control materials by means of a conduit system to areas that would otherwise be inaccessible following completion of construction, the rigidity of the piping utilized, the return loop requirement needed for prerelease pressurizing, and the use of individual pressure valves provides an unnecessary complexity to the system that presents a burden both during and after installation. The valves ("nozzles") are, for example, mounted in place by drilling and tapping after installation of the piping itself. This procedure takes time, costs money, and interferes with the construction schedule. Moreover, the nozzles have moving parts that may block in either open or closed position, both of which will interfere with proper operation, but will be difficult to remedy because of subsequent inaccessibility. Also, it will be difficult to know which of the concealed nozzles is the offending one.
Lundwall U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,841 relates to a distribution system for vermin control, also facilitated by the use of pipes disposed throughout a building. The Lundwall system employs pipes having periodic openings for distribution of a fluid vermin control material throughout the walls and below ground level. Distribution is effected by means of a pressurizing pump controlled by a solenoid valve, which automatically and periodically pumps material from a storage reservoir under pressure through the openings. Lundwall recommends the use of chlordane, a highly toxic material having a long residual life. The Lundwall approach requires considerable equipment to be located in an attic or elsewhere in the building in order to operate the system.
The present invention overcomes the above and other drawbacks of the prior art by providing an improved integrated pest control system that utilizes equipment that can be easily installed and maintained, with little or no interruption in building construction scheduling and without the need for concealed moving parts or the requirement for cumbersome dispersing control machinery.